Annalee Grace Sullivan was born on April 7, 2003 and lived the life of a playful, spiritually sensitive, musical child until she was 3 1/2 years old. On January 21, 2007 she suffered an hypoxic brain injury from a seizure caused by undiagnosed Addison's Disease.
In spite--or because--of her physical and cognitive limitations, Annie was a blessing to all who knew her. She died on March 25, 2011, and today stands in the presence of Jesus--completely whole and without disability.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Remembering Annie on March 25th

I got a card in the mail a couple of days ago from my niece, Lorraine, reminding me that she remembers what's coming up next Sunday: Annie's first birthday in heaven. Hmm, first birthday in heaven sounds so much nicer than the first anniversary of her death. I'll stick with that one.

As I've been thinking about what our family should do that day, I came up with 8 ways to honor Annie's memory. Then I had another idea: if you knew Annie and felt inclined, you can do one of these things, too!

1. Wear something pink.
2. Plant something pink.
3. Buy a pink balloon, write a message to Annie and let it go up to heaven where she can read it.
4. Make pink cupcakes.
5. Buy Heaven, God's Promise for Me, and donate it to the kid's ministry of your church.
6. Donate any Dr. Seuss book, or Brown Bear, Brown Bear to your local elementary school.
7. For you big spenders, donate an IPad to your local school's special ed program. Nonverbal kids like Annie need easy ways to communicate, and IPads make this happen.
8. Hug your kids and thank God every day you get to enjoy them this side of heaven.

And for those of you who have lost loved ones, post a comment about how you honor their memory on anniversary days. Then maybe we'll snag your idea, too.

What good ideas! I kept Annie's picture on my desktop for this first year to remind to pray for all the Sullivans. It's almost time to change it, and I will, but I'll actually miss seeing her every day (as I know you do).

Thank you for sharing Jean. Happy 1st year birthday in heaven Annie. Praise God for you and your family! In your honor we are wearing pink and sending a pink balloon to you in heaven.Love, The Coronacions.

Thank you so much, Anna! There are also some people who are taking the pink cupcakes to their local fire station as a way of telling them about adrenal insufficiency. If your fire station EMT's haven't met you yet, maybe you could take some cupcakes to them and tell them about Addison's and how it affects you. That would be a good thing for them to know.

Anna, you sound like a very mature 13 year old--thank you for participating in honoring Annie's life!

I've got some pink tulips ready to go in the ground to celebrate Annie, this year & each year when they come up again! I also know a "pink princess" at church who will be getting an extra hug this Sunday in Annie's honor! Love, Janice